Queen Eliasa Iivitas
Queen Eliasa Iivitas Queen Eliasa Iivitas was the Queen who founded Elavita by uniting all the High Elvish city-states in the archipelago, through both military and diplomatic means. Eliasa is considered the greatest national hero of Elavita, and she is also revered by the Avamorians. She is an Elvetan Saint, and she is counted as one of the Noble Pagans by Imperial Christians. As well as her unification of Elavita, which Eliasa is best known for, she also made other achievements, such as codifying the traditional Elvish Law which prevailed over all the islands, standardising the Elvish currency and spreading its usage to the Avamoric kingdoms, and making allies with the Hegari. Eliasa is also credited with personally designing a new style of galley superior to the others used by the Elves (which were already some of the finest in the world) and pioneering the so-called "magic engine" which used sustained air magic to turn large propellers to power ships, which were more efficient than the old method of blasting air magic at the sails of ships, and less susceptible to outside interference. Both of these would significantly contribute to her ability to establish total naval dominance over the other Elvish states, even when outnumbered. Unification of Elavita When Eliasa ascended the throne of Elviae, she was immediately beset by problems, finding herself at war with the states of Sesora, Tenara and Helaera, and with the constant threat of the pretender Anerae, her cousin, who coveted the throne. She personally led the Elviaean fleet against the fleets of Sesora and Tenara in 476BC, decisively defeating them with few losses. Having proved her strength early on, she married Sami Ellesae and solidified an alliance with Ellenaria in 475. Not willing to face the combined strength of two of the most powerful High Elvish states, Sesora made peace in 474, and Tenara in 473 when confronted by Eliasa again. Halaera, however, continued to be a thorn in her side; they made a pact with the pretender Anerae, who led a large invasion of Elviae in 470 and was narrowly defeated by Eliasa. Anerae evaded capture, but his small escape boat would be claimed by a storm and he drowned at sea. There continued to be sporadic fighting with Halaera until Sesora broke the peace in 466, convincing Vestae to join them in a surprise invasion of Ellenaria, which was overrun after a month-long siege - however the bulk of the Ellenarian fleet and army managed to escape to Elviae. Eliasa sailed to Tenara and made an alliance with her old enemy, which was ruled by a new King who was more friendly to Elviae. Tenara was sent to make a diversionary attack on Sesora to draw away the enemy from Ellenaria, which was then attacked and recaptured in late 465. The fleets of both Halaera and Sesora were crushed in 464, and Sesora again made peace - this time agreeing to an alliance. Halaera refused to surrender until the island was attacked and overwhelmed by Eliasa and her allies in 463, and harsher terms were imposed upon it; it was made to be a subservient ally, not made to pay tribute but forced to join any of Eliasa's wars and forced to accept Elviaean magistrates. It was then that Eliasa developed her idea of a perpetually united Elavita, together under one state, with each dynasty having equal footing. With Ellenaria, Tenara, Sesora and Helaera behind her, she led campaigns against Elvena (from 460-456) and Vestae (453-448) which secured their surrender and alliance. Eliasa decided to leave some time to let the states become accustomed to peace and unity before proposing a single unified state, but her project was cut short by several long, protracted rebellions, with the states of Sesora, Helaera, Elvena and Vestae revolting continuously until the last vestiges of rebellion were stamped out in 421 when Helaera was conquered and sacked, the Kesenoras Palace being razed to the ground and King Elecos Kesenoras, who had been the cause of so much trouble, was publicly executed by hanging. In order to help secure her victory, Eliasa made allies of several Hegari tribes, who had been badly abused and mistreated by the Helaerans and Vestaeans for many decades, and they made sure to exact exceedingly bloody revenge against the populations of these islands. Finally, Eliasa could wait in peace for the right time to propose unification, which was first mentioned in around 410. Although the only other state that agreed to a united Elvish state was Ellenaria, they all agreed to a single independent Elvish Court which would settle disputes between states and would act as the supreme legislative court for all the states. The Elvish Court was progressively given more powers, being given its own army in 406, and slowly more states came around to the idea of unification until mutual approval was finally secured in 400. The state of Elavita was officially founded at noon on the summer equinox when the flag of Elviae was lowered and the new flag of Elavita was raised in its place. A similar event soon took place across the other islands. The old flags would eventually fly again within a few years, but lower than the flag of Elavita, as they do today.